Siobhan Muttonchop

Siobhan (pronounced shĭ'vän) comes from a family of wealthy ranchers, who are The Land's largest producers of curlycoats. Because they produce not only a great quantity of the animals, but also what is regarded as the highest quality of mutton in the world, her clan chose the name "Muttonchop" when the surname law was passed in 904. It is not uncommon, however, for some people to confuse the term with "mutton chops," which refers to long sideburns. Therefore, members of the clan are often mistakenly called "Muttonchops," with a superfluous "s" added to the name. It's also not uncommon for female members of the clan to be teased about this name.

Siobhan herself never had any interest in taking part in the family business, in spite of being proud to come from a noble clan. This pride, however, was one of the lesser reasons she supported the Coming of the Order. She claims, rather, to believe strongly in the ideals behind the Coming, of unifying the people of the world, and all the benefits that have come from introducing order into all levels of society. Because of these beliefs, she joined the army of Near Port during the war, and later, when the Army was establishing new regiments in villages beyond the three original ones, she played an important part in the organizing of her home village's regiment, which, in addition to her heroic services during the war itself, earned her the rank of colonel, and the position of commander of her village's newly formed regiment.

However, her "noble" sentiments were called into question in 912, when she supported Demos Royal during the Chaos War. While she claimed the election of Quinn Darkstrider had been rigged by The Chaos, and therefore was illegal, there are many who believe her decision was actually based on Darkstrider's clan being longtime rivals of her own clan (even though his clan's main claim to fame were their ranch's striders; both clans produced several types of livestock besides their respective primary animals). In any event, she played an important part in the Battle of First Village, along with Col. Beauregard Hickorysmoke of Ristar. But they ultimately lost the battle, and were temporarily imprisoned in their own stockades by the rebels. Shortly before that imprisonment, she put a stop to an unauthorized attack by Lt. Hiram Betterlife, which came shortly after the announcement of Muttonchop and Hickorysmoke's surrender to General Alecstar Inco.

After the war, king-elect Darkstrider made a deal with the head of the Muttonchop clan, Jessalyn Muttonchop (Siobhan's aunt). Darkstrider's clan sold all of their curlycoats to her clan at a major discount, thus ending their competition on that front, while simultaneously allowing the Muttonchop clan to retain their own striders, and maintain whatever degree of competition they felt best, on that front. Jessalyn then insisted that Siobhan recant her claim of impropriety in the election. This was made easier still by members of the Chaos saying they believed it was an honest mistake on her part, and that they did not doubt her honorable intentions, largely because she had saved their lives in the skirmish with Lt. Betterlife and his platoon, which she didn't need to do. And so, when Darkstrider became king, Siobhan swore loyalty to him as well as Marshal Poss Primus, and remained the commander of her regiment.